The world premiere of Vikramaditya Motwane’s powerful documentary, Indi(r)a’s Emergency, was held at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023 on Saturday, October 28 in Mumbai. A Q-and-A session was held after the screening which was attended by Vikramaditya Motwane and producer Sameer Nair. Anurag Kashyap also joined in to talk a bit about the film and later passed on the microphone to members of the audience who wanted to ask a question! The session was moderated by Varun Grover.
Varun asked Vikramaditya why he chose to make a documentary on the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi and not a feature. The filmmaker hinted at Kangana Ranaut’s upcoming film Emergency, based on the same subject, as he said, “The feature film is being made by somebody else!”
He added, “Samir Patil (of Scroll) approached me. I am a history buff. I studied history in college. This was supposed to be a series of 3 episodes.” He continued, “We realized that this was a great way to tell our recent history to an entire audience that has some idea but not a complete idea.”
Unlike documentaries that have interviews, Indi(r)a’s Emergency stands out. Vikramaditya Motwane explained, “I was clear that I didn’t want to do a typical documentary, with intervals et al. We decided to go with archival footage. We managed to find incredible footage from Getty, Pathe etc. Thankfully, Mr Sameer Nair stepped in and saw the rough cut. He decided to come on board.”
Anurag Kashyap pitched in, “I saw the three-hour version and was blown away by it. I told Motwane, ‘You have the b***s to make it’ and then you (pointing to Sameer Nair) have bigger b***s to rescue it. Hence, compliments to both of you (laughs)!”
Sameer Nair talked about when this film can be seen by more people. He began by saying, “We are submitting for censor as well.” As expected, the audience broke into laughter because the film also talks about censorship.
Sameer, on a serious note, added, “We would like to have a version that we can release theatrically as well. It’s important to tell us stories like this. And the way it’s done with the footage, animation, voiceover and writing, it is entertaining.”
Anurag Kashyap remarked, “It is entertaining and it’s also very powerful. It says a lot more than just the Emergency.”
Vikramaditya Motwane honestly admitted that his other project took priority over Indi(r)a’s Emergency and hence, the documentary took a while to be out. He didn’t name this project but he was probably referring to his acclaimed Amazon Prime Video show, Jubilee. He said, “We started working on it in early 2020. Sameer came on board in late 2021. Meanwhile, I shot something else and came back. In a way, it was like my step-child!”
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Also Read: Kangana Ranaut clarifies: Emergency neither shows Congress in a poor light nor will be released during 2024 Lok Sabha Elections; calls it an “ode” to Indira Gandhi
